


Ice Cream Castles In The Summer Sky

by madamsledge



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Ice Cream, Interactive Fics Recommended, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Post-World War II, Reader-Insert, Secret Crush, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-14 15:54:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20603411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madamsledge/pseuds/madamsledge
Summary: Post-war. There's a certain ice cream stand Don Malarkey visits every day at the park.





	Ice Cream Castles In The Summer Sky

Don Malarkey’s fingers warmed the ten cent coin in his pocket. He rotated it, feeling the ridges and tried counting them, but he always lost track. The unforgiving sun beating down from above highlighted all the red in his hair, almost as bright as in his boyhood, and he wished he’d had enough sense to wear a hat to keep his entire face and neck from being burnt. It was the hottest day of summer so far, with the manicured lawns of Alton Baker park hissing and fragrant. Perfect day for ice cream.

Well, every since May Day had been the perfect day for ice cream. Don was pretty sure he’d gained a few pounds–but it seemed to be okay. It would be all right! He could always find a hill and run up and down it until he passed out. Always worked in his Army days. Was that why his mom told him he was too thin?

He saw you under the parasol surrounded by children, and one day he hoped to see that again–just without the ice cream. Well, maybe with the ice cream, but under different circumstances. Don stepped up when it was his turn in line, smiled at you and your little pink ice cream cone earrings.

“Hey, Sergeant Malarkey!” you said, his double scoop of strawberry nearly ready by the time he approached. You winked. “Fancy seeing you here.”

He laughed a little too much. It was a cute, ironic little joke because he’d shown up every day for over a month, now. “Thanks, Y/N. Do they ever let you go home? It’s so warm today, have you had much water?”

You sighed. “I only get here about an hour before you do. To be honest with you, Sergeant, I’m sweating bullets, and I forgot to bring a canteen.”

“Wait here,” he said, and then mentally smacked himself for managing to sound like a complete idiot every single time he saw you. He walked away quickly with the strawberry ice cream beginning to drip down on his hand, but he only licked it a few times.

The truth was that he actually did not care for strawberry ice cream at all. He was a more of a French vanilla kind of guy, after his tenure in Paris, but when he saw you the first time on the first of May, when he approached the little ice cream stand, saw you in those pink and white stripes, he’d just stammered out the first actual ice cream flavour that came to mind.

It was in his backseat, and he was so glad he was able to find it where he’d thought he’d left it. He took it with him sometimes, but had a hard time looking at it sometimes. He stopped to fill it up on his way back to you, and thankfully there weren’t any children to wait behind this time. Don held out his old canteen with a smile for you.

“Here, have some,” he said. “The water’s fresh from the fountain, and pretty cold.”

“Oh my God, Sarge, you’re a lifesaver!” you cried, untwisting the cap and taking careful sips.

He wondered if he could blame the redness of his cheeks on the sun. “Y'know, Y/N, you could call me Don. It’s been a long time since anybody’s called me Sarge. Not, y'know, that I’m complaining, or anything…”

You smiled at him. “Okay, then. Don it is. Thank you, Don, thank you so much. It’s a scorcher out, today.”

“Yeah, that it is, that it is…” He rubbed the back of his neck only to realise that he had melted strawberry ice cream all over it.

“Oh, no, Don!” You came around from the stand and wet a cloth with his canteen to get some of the stickiness off his neck. “You didn’t get a chance to eat your ice cream because you were helping me! I’ll buy you a new one, I’ll make it right now.”

“Wait,” he said, holding your wrist gently. He smiled nervously, and hoped he didn’t seem creepy or scary. “I, uh…I don’t really like strawberry ice cream, so it’s okay.”

“You’re nuts about strawberry ice cream!” you cried. “You have it every day!”

“I’m not even much of an ice cream guy,” he admitted slowly as he used the cloth to get the melted treat from his hands, now. “I, uh…I know it sounds bad, but I just come by and have it to see you every day.”

He didn’t expect you to smile at him the way you did, for those little pink ice cream cone earrings to sway when you shook your head.

“You didn’t have to come load yourself up on sugar to see me,” you said. “You could’ve asked for my number.”

“Civilian life,” he said with another nervous chuckle. “Hard…getting back to it, sometimes…Sometimes, I don’t know what to do, so I just…”

“It’s okay,” you said gently, still holding his canteen. “I just wanted you to know I like you, too. I always get happy around noon, hoping I’ll see Sergeant Ginger again.”

“Really?” Don’s smile grew. “I never knew somebody would be all that excited to see me.”

You laughed, a bit of a blush on your own cheeks. “Well, you’re not a fan of ice cream. Are you more of a pie guy? If so, one of my favourite diners happens to make the best cup of coffee and the best slice of blueberry pie in this whole city.”

A date. He was being asked out on a date! By you! Don tried to hold his excitement in, but he’d never been known for being able to rein in that kind of thing, and after so many miserable goddamn months over in Europe, he liked to feel his joy as much as he could. “Yeah, yeah, that sounds fu–really amazing! And, uh, I wanted to ask you, and I swear I really was going to today, before the dehydration and melted ice cream snafu happened, you see, I got this really good buddy from the Army, real nice guy, and he sent me a letter this week and the whole thing, swear to God, this whole thing was two pages, front and back, about this new film, and he’s already seen it thirteen times, so I was hoping I might convince you to come see it with me. At the pictures.”

It was your turn to become flustered with excitement and anticipation. “Are you scheduling a second date already?”

“Yes, and I’d like to go ahead and put us down for a third, fourth, and fifth.” Smooth, Don. Smooth.

“So, the sixth date is around the Fourth of July? My family has a big picnic every year,” you said. “All we need to bring is bug spray and potato salad.”

A stampede of little feet came running towards the ice cream stand, all with coins pressed into their hands by parents needing a break. They formed a line behind Don, excitedly talking about what they were going to get, and he smiled and stepped out of the way.

“Let me get out of your hair,” he said, hands in his pockets now. “Can’t go getting between the rugrats and ice cream. I’ll, uh, I’ll talk to you soon? Very soon?”

“Wait, Don,” you called out, and held out to him his canteen and a slip of paper. “You forgot these.”

“What’s this?” he asked, but as soon as he unfolded the note, he smiled. Seven digits in neat script, with your name written beside it. He passed the canteen back to you. “Keep it. You’re thirsty, and it’s warm out. I’ll get it from you later.”

He walked away with your phone number in his pocket and a smile on his face. The sun wasn’t bothering him so much, now.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! All my fanfiction (a lot of which isn't on ao3) can be found at warmommy.tumblr.com/fanfiction


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